Wednesday, June 14, 2017

John Smoltz, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine baffled hitters through the 1990s, helping the Atlanta Braves to multiple division titles and a World Series championship.

The Braves are returning to their strong pitching roots and Canadian Mike Soroka is at the forefront.

The 19-year-old Soroka was promoted to double-A to start the 2017 season — a rarity for a player in his second full season as a pro. Atlanta director of player development Dave Trembley said the promotion wasn't a hard decision.

"Mike's going to be real special," Trembley said. "He's a guy that will take the ball every fifth day, he's going to be a guy that's going to give you a lot of innings. He prepares very well, he's very mature, he knows what he wants.

"We have a lot of confidence in the direction he's going and we see him as a front-line pitcher in Atlanta for a long time."

The Calgary native hasn't disappointed since being promoted, going 7-3 with a 2.45 earned-run average in 12 starts with the Mississippi Braves. He also took a perfect game into the seventh inning of a May 12 start against the Mobile BayBears, retiring the first 19 batters he faced.

The six-foot-five, 225-pound right-hander credits playing for the Canadian junior team with helping his transition to the pros after he was selected 28th overall in the 2015 MLB draft.

"I was fortunate to be able to hit the learning curve a little sooner than most high school pitchers," said Soroka. "I kind of realized that everybody throws hard, everybody has good stuff, it's about how you use it, not just what you have anymore."

Soroka ranks fourth on the Braves' MLB.com top prospect rankings. He entered the season at No. 48 on Baseball America's top prospects list and No. 66 on MLB.com. Six of Atlanta's top 10 prospects are pitchers, including No. 3 Kolby Allard, a 19-year-old left-hander and Soroka's roommate.

Baseball wasn't always on Soroka's radar.

"I thought I was going to be a goalie in the NHL," said Soroka, who his followed his hometown Flames when they were making a Stanley Cup run in 2004.. "Two of three years after that it kind of wore off but I was already pretty into it. Then by 13, 14, I realized that I didn't love to practise as much as a goalie as I did baseball."

Soroka has stayed close to home in the off-season, training at the Canadian Sport Institute with Stampeders quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell and linebackers Alex Singleton and Deron Mayo.

He's also developed a close working relationship and friendship with former major league pitcher Chris Reitsma, who's been working with Soroka since he was 14.

"I feel really connected with him and I can go with him for anything, not just baseball," Soroka said. "He realizes a lot of the realities in the game of baseball and the business of baseball. He's been extremely helpful and I definitely wouldn't be as knowledgeable or as confident without him."

Soroka's progress this season has led to a spot in the Southern League's all-star game on June 20 game in Pensacola, Fla., along with Allard.

"To have that honour is awesome but there's still another half of the season left and you can make or break a season every start," he said. "Just being able to enjoy that for that all-star break is going to be unreal and kind of just being able to reset a little bit and stay grounded and go out there and do my thing, that's what I'll need to do."

With both Soroka and Allard in the system, the Braves' starting rotation has a promising future. But Trembley said the franchise will take their time with Soroka.

"The era of John Schuerholz (former Braves GM) and Bobby Cox (former Braves manager), they brought up those guys to the big leagues and let them continue their development in the big leagues," Trembley said. "I don't think we're reluctant to do that, I just think at this particular point in time, the jump that Mike made, let him pitch where he's at right now and let's see what happens."